Bug 2559576 (CVE-2026-98885)

Summary:	CVE-2026-98885 kernel: ima: return error early if file xattr cannot be changed
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	low	Docs Contact:
Priority:	low
Version:	unspecified	CC:	akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Security
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	---
Doc Text:	A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Integrity Measurement Architecture (IMA). When opening files on a read-only ext4 filesystem during boot, IMA attempts to update extended file attributes without properly verifying whether changes are permitted. This triggers a journal transaction failure and a kernel warning, which may allow a local user to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) if the system is configured to halt on warnings.	Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:		Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-23 12:06:58 UTC

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ima: return error early if file xattr cannot be changed

During early boot, the filesystem is read-only and any changes
to xattrs are not allowed. This fails in case of ext4 because
changing xattr starts an ext4 transaction which fails with the
following warning.

WARNING: fs/ext4/ext4_jbd2.c:75 at ext4_journal_check_start+0x63/0xa0 [ext4], CPU#1: systemd-sysroot/561
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 561 Comm: systemd-sysroot Not tainted 6.19.12-1-default #1 PREEMPT(voluntary) openSUSE Tumbleweed  c2dfc3c9d9f6f1233251c5d4410574fe82a348ee
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS unknown 02/02/2022
RIP: 0010:ext4_journal_check_start+0x63/0xa0 [ext4]
Call Trace:
  __ext4_journal_start_sb+0x3e/0x180 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1]
  ext4_xattr_set+0x104/0x150 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1]
  __vfs_setxattr+0x9a/0xd0
  __vfs_setxattr_noperm+0x76/0x1f0
  ima_appraise_measurement+0x23e/0xe40
  ima_d_path+0x5a/0xd0
  process_measurement+0xb29/0xc40
  ? copy_from_kernel_nofault+0x21/0xe0
  ? fscrypt_file_open+0xc0/0xe0
  ? ext4_file_open+0x60/0x490 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1]
  ? bpf_prog_31efb7c56239148b_restrict_filesystems+0xab/0x126
  ? __bpf_prog_exit+0x23/0xd0
  ? __bpf_tramp_exit+0xd/0x50
  ? bpf_trampoline_6442530367+0x9f/0xea
  ima_file_check+0x57/0x80
  security_file_post_open+0x50/0xf0
  path_openat+0x493/0x1650
  do_filp_open+0xc7/0x170

Detect the state of the file early and return the error.

Comment 1 Mauro Matteo Cascella 2026-10-26 12:11:48 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-98885.mbox